How is it that well educated and financially stable people become Jehovah's Witnesses? (page 3)

blondie

It's a cult...similar people join Scientology and the Moonies. Look at the qualities of a cult.

You are assuming that just because a person has an advanced degree or that they are financially well off that they are emotionally stable. These sorts of people are just as likely to be seeking some sort of spiritual fulfillment as anyone else. So it is not the case that just because a person is rich or intelligent he is immune to the crafty teaching of the Watchtower. Rich, intelligent people can have as many emotion problems, or family troubles, as other people.

Some witnesses say that because Brother and Sister So and So are doctors and lawyers and are also Jehovah's Witnesses then that gives credence to the validity of the religion. But does it really? There is some sort of disconnect between intellectualism and religious teachings. People, no matter how intelligent, tend to suspend belief and to grasp onto "pretty words" of living forever. This is why religion, in general, is so popular and why many, many rich, intelligent people still believe the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church despite its well publicized abuse of children.

It's remarkable what people will put up with in the name of religion.

Room 215

It's a psychological phenomenon, a gnawing craving for certainty, a loathing of ambiguity and little patence for anything but simple answers to life's great imponderable questions that have little/nothing to do with a person's intelligence or affluence.

CoonDawg

I think much of it has to do with the circumstances of the person when they were approached. My wife, for instance, was in her late 20s. She had recently moved to Tulsa w/ her fist husband. She knew no one, had no family in the area, and was expecting her first child. When the dubs came knocking, she was lonly and ripe for recruitment. I think more educated people come in because of circumstances like this. Look at when they recruited Prince. He and his wife were going through the grieving process of having lost a child. He was succeptible in an emotional way. That's the method of most proseletyzing faiths - find those that are emotionally vulnerable, offer them a better idea that addresses theri particular situation, love-bomb, then dunk 'em.

leavingwt

So how is it that well educated people who have stable careers become Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Steve Hassan's first book answers this question in a very definitive manner, IMHO.

LongHairGal

21stCenturyWoman:

Things have changed over the years and now you have well-dressed JWs that go out in service. It isn't like in the past when you had shabby, impoverished types who went from door-to-door. There may be a few tacky-looking JWs here and there but generally speaking the JWs look better than they did years ago.

SO, when one of these well-dressed JWs (perhaps a brother with a business, etc.) goes out in service and makes a contact - the impression he gives off is not one of ragged poverty. This is where it gets deceptive. Of course, he will never let on that the religion discourages college and careers. He may have gotten his education before he came into the religion OR he may be in a family business that is doing well and it doesn't matter if he went to college or not. His conversation is careful and positive and, of course, he talks about the promises of the "kingdom" and the "end to world problems", etc.

This is how well-educated and financially stable people get enticed into the religion.

21stcenturywoman

Everyone's comments/thoughts are very interesting and helpful. Reading this website has assisted in providing me with real clarity about the actual "truth".

diamondiiz

They are still human. They may have lost someone close to them and they are caught off guard. They may wonder if there is life after death or think about their own mortality and a dub comes along with a nice story of everlasting life. An educated person may not use their thinking abilities while in emotional duress so the poison fed by a witness is absorbed so that an educated person can get baptized and be under wts control for life.

In 19 years and 5 congregations I never met a doctor, lawyer, dentist or a nurse. I never seen stable educated people studying but youth and lower income, emotionally unstable. So while it's possible for a financially stable to fall for wts con it's unlikely and it must be quite rare.

steve2

I have a suspicion that a more educated person might be probe to leave sooner.

Or, alternatively, work out quicker that it's "safer" simply to stay in and play the game rather than risk the wrath of still-in family members. Education can lead just as readily to radical as to conservative decisions.

DocBob

Well educated and financially stable people were taken in by Bernie Madoff, too.

How is it that well educated and financially stable people become Jehovah's Witnesses?